Rare meaningful response after US revealed its spying on German chancellor.

Germany has opted not to renew its government contract with Verizon, citing concerns over spying by the National Security Agency. The contract will expire in 2015, and the move marks a rare concrete step from Berlin following the October 2013 revelations that the NSA was spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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In a German-language statement (Google Translate) posted to the Ministry of the Interior’s website, Berlin noted that it needs “an infrastructure with an increased level of security.”

Verizon has maintained the contract since 2010.

“There are indications that Verizon is legally required to provide certain things to the NSA, and that’s one of the reasons the cooperation with Verizon won’t continue,” Interior Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate told reporters, according to the Associated Press.

In February, German media reported that the NSA had moved to bugging German ministries instead of the chancellor herself.

For decades, Germany has had much stricter privacy and data protection laws than the United States. American security consultant and Tor developer Jacob Appelbaum and American filmmaker (and Glenn Greenwald’s primary colleague on the Snowden leaks) Laura Poitras are known to have taken up residence in Germany.